In short: Under Kenya's courier hailing framework, the platform that moves your parcels must be licensed by the Communications Authority, must publish a prohibited-articles schedule, must file its tariffs and complaints procedure, must let you verify the identity of the rider at your counter, and must keep delivery records for at least five years and produce them to the Authority, the Kenya Revenue Authority or the police on request. Seven checks tell you whether the operator carrying your goods can do any of that. All seven can be run in an afternoon.
Why this is now your problem
You are not the licensee. Your delivery partner is. That distinction disappears the moment something goes wrong.
The goods are yours. The customer is yours. If a consignment is seized because contents were misdeclared, if a partner's service is suspended for a compliance breach in the middle of your peak week, or if a revenue or law-enforcement request lands and nobody can produce a record of what moved and when — none of that is a problem you can hand back to the operator. It is your stock, your customer and your reputation.
Kenya's framework makes this explicit in one direction: the platform is answerable for its riders. It does nothing to insulate you from the consequences of choosing badly. Ten minutes of diligence is the cheapest risk control available to you this year.
The seven checks
1. Ask for the licence — the category, the number, and the holder's exact legal name
Not "are you licensed?", which invites a yes. Ask for the licence category, the licence number, and the registered name of the entity that holds it.
What good looks like: an immediate, specific answer naming the licensing category and number, and a legal entity name that matches the company on your invoices and your contract.
Red flags: a screenshot with the number cropped out. A trading name that does not match the licence holder. "The licence is with our parent company." A promise to send it later that never arrives. A business registration certificate offered in place of a licence — a BRS certificate proves the company exists, not that it may lawfully carry your parcels.
2. Verify it independently
A document you were sent is a claim. Check it against the Communications Authority's published register of licensees rather than against the PDF in your inbox. If you cannot find the entity, ask the operator to explain the discrepancy before you dismiss it — licence records can lag a name change or a category migration — but treat an unexplained absence as an unresolved answer, not a formality.
3. Find their prohibited-articles schedule
The framework requires operators to display a schedule of prohibited articles both at their outlets and on their platform. This is one of the most useful checks available to you, because it is public, binary and impossible to fake in the moment: either the schedule is on their website and in their app, or it is not.
Why it matters to you specifically: the schedule tells you what you may not send. Without it, your staff are guessing, and a misdeclaration made in good faith is still a misdeclaration.
What good looks like: a published, dated schedule covering absolute prohibitions and restricted categories, with a stated process for items requiring a permit.
4. Check that charges are published and stable
Charges and terms must be displayed at the point of service, and tariffs — including promotions and special offers — require prior approval before a service is offered or a charge changed.
What good looks like: a published rate structure you can read before you book, and notice before it changes.
Red flags: a price quoted only on WhatsApp. Rates that move without notice. "We'll work it out at the end of the month." Beyond the compliance question, an operator who cannot state a price in advance cannot be reconciled against at month end, which is a finance problem long before it is a regulatory one.
5. Test the complaints route — with a real complaint
A complaint-handling procedure must be filed with the Authority before commencement and annually thereafter, and consumers must be able to file and track complaints. Tracking is the word to hold them to.
Do not ask whether they have a procedure. Raise a small, real issue and see what happens.
What good looks like: a reference number you receive without asking, a stated response time, a status you can check yourself, and a named escalation path that ends somewhere other than the person who took the call.
Red flags: the complaint lives in a WhatsApp thread. No reference number. Escalation means "call the boss".
6. Verify a rider at your counter
Consumers must be able to verify the identity of the staff and riders handling their parcels, and platforms must provide real-time tracking. Test both, at your own counter, with a live job.
What good looks like: the rider assigned in the app matches the person who arrives — name, photo, plate. Your customer can follow the parcel. The handover is confirmed by something that generates a record.
Red flags: an unbranded rider who cannot be matched to the job. A rider who says the app is not working today. Collection confirmed by nothing more than the parcel leaving your counter.
That last one deserves a sentence of its own. Most operators can prove delivery. Very few can prove collection. If the only record in the chain is created at the doorstep, then everything that happens between your counter and the customer's door is unevidenced — which is exactly the window in which parcels go missing and disputes become unwinnable. Ask what record exists at the point the parcel leaves you.
7. Ask two questions about records and money
"How long do you keep delivery records, and can you produce one for a specific parcel from six months ago?" The retention floor under the framework is five years, and records must be produced to the Authority or a competent government agency on request. An operator who cannot retrieve a single historical delivery on request cannot do this.
"Where is your compensation policy published, and what is the claim timeline?" Compensation policies must be filed with the Authority and made available to customers at outlets and on the website, with claims settled within 90 days in line with the filed policy. If the answer is "we handle it case by case", you have no policy — you have a negotiation, conducted at the worst possible moment, with no agreed basis.
The scorecard
| # | Check | Pass |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Licence category, number and exact legal entity provided on request | ☐ |
| 2 | Verified independently against the Authority's register | ☐ |
| 3 | Prohibited-articles schedule published on their website and platform | ☐ |
| 4 | Charges published in advance and stable, with notice of change | ☐ |
| 5 | Complaint produces a reference number and a trackable status | ☐ |
| 6 | Rider identity verifiable at your counter; tracking visible to your customer | ☐ |
| 7 | Records retained and retrievable; compensation policy published with a stated timeline | ☐ |
Six or seven: a partner you can defend in a procurement review or an audit.
Three to five: workable, but the gaps are yours to carry. Put the missing items in writing with a date against each.
Two or fewer: you are the compliance function for this relationship, whether or not you agreed to be. Price that in, or move.
The email you can send today
Copy this. It takes two minutes and the quality of the reply is itself the answer.
Subject: Courier compliance details for our supplier file Hello, We are updating our supplier records ahead of Kenya's courier hailing licensing framework. Could you please confirm the following: 1. The licence category, licence number and exact registered name of the licence holder. 2. A link to your published schedule of prohibited and restricted articles. 3. A link to your published charges and terms of service. 4. Your complaint-handling procedure, including how we obtain a reference number and track status. 5. How a customer or our counter staff verifies the identity of an assigned rider. 6. Your record retention period, and confirmation that you can retrieve a delivery record on request. 7. A link to your published compensation policy for lost, delayed or damaged items, including the claim timeline. Many thanks.
An operator who is genuinely compliant answers this in a single reply with links. An operator who is not will negotiate with the question. That, on its own, tells you most of what you needed to know.
Frequently asked questions
Peter Maina Njoroge
Advocate of the High Court of Kenya — Director, Legal Affairs
Peter leads regulatory compliance at TumaBoda. This article provides general information regarding merchant diligence and is not legal advice.
